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Remember Paul?
"Remember Paul?" is the 135th episode of Desperate Housewives, as well as its seventh season premiere. Summary The residents of Wisteria Lane are stunned to discover that Paul Young is out of prison and back in the neighborhood with seemingly dark motives. Meanwhile, while Paul is renting Susan's home, she, Mike and MJ are living in an apartment on limited funds... However, Susan sees a glimmer of hope in getting her life back on the lane when she's offered an unorthodox job by her apartment manager, Maxine. Lynette's rich and successful college friend, Renee, pays an unexpected visit to the Scavo household, whereas Gabrielle and Carlos find themselves keeping secrets from one another, and Bree, newly single and needing a fresh start after handing out her business, finds herself tempted by Keith, the handsome, young handyman she's hired to update her house. Plot Previously on Desperate Housewives *Bree tells Orson that Andrew ran over Juanita "Mama" Solis, Carlos' mother and never served his time and Orson subsequently breaks up with her. ("I Guess This is Goodbye") *Bree decides to tell Gabrielle about the hit-and-run. ("I Guess This is Goodbye") *Teresa Pruitt, a former nurse at Fairview Memorial Hospital, confesses to switching two babies around while working at the hospital. ("I Guess This is Goodbye") *Due to her and Mike's financial problems, Susan rents her house out and moves off Wisteria Lane. ("I Guess This is Goodbye") *Paul Young returns to the neighborhood, renting out Susan's house. ("I Guess This is Goodbye") Teaser The episode begins with a recap on previous events. We see Mary Alice, our deceased narrator, and her husband, Paul, enjoying themselves at a neighborhood BBQ. The camera pans back and shows Rex Van de Kamp and Carlos Solis chatting over a drink, as Tom jokes around with Susan and Lynette while cooking some meat on the grill. Children run around the garden happily. Karen McCluskey is sitting beside Martha Huber and the two are enjoying their meals. Bree and Gabrielle converse beside them. The camera fades to black. In a flashback we have seen many times before, Mary Alice pulls a purple envelope out of her mailbox and opens it slowly. We next see her sitting down at the dining table and she flips open the folded cars and reads the writing; "I KNOW WHAT YOU DID. IT MAKES ME SICK. I'M GOING TO TELL." Finally, Mary Alice stands frozen in her living room. She pulls her arm up revealing a small hand-gun and places it firmly on the side of her head. Paul stands outside a home on Wisteria Lane. The door swings open and Martha Huber smiles gently. We cut to Paul violently strangling the woman, whose lifeless body collapses. Paul is watering his flowers - Felicia Tilman, Martha's sister, stands in the foreground, clearly plotting against him. Next, Felicia is standing in her kitchen. She pulls out a large kitchen knife and holds if close to her two fingers. We see a policeman standing beside a crime scene, he holds Felicia's fingers in a plastic wallet. Paul is imprisoned for Felicia's 'murder' - we see him behind bars looking resentful. Years later, a policeman is waiting beside a country road. A small car whizzes past him and the cop decides to give chase. A blonde-haired woman is arrested for having no identification. She has two missing fingers - it's Felicia. She is put behind bars for framing her death. Paul is in his cell putting on a shirt and tie. His lawyer visits him and hands over his settlement cheque. Paul is a free man. "So where you going first," the lawyer asks friendly, "After all these years in prison, I guess you're ready to party!" Paul admits that all he wishes to do is go home to his old neighborhood. The lawyer points out that no-one would blame Paul if he hated his neighbors because they didn't support him during the trial. "Oh, I don't hate them," Paul says, "A little." It's a beautiful day on the Lane. The front door of 4353 Wisteria Lane opens slowly and Paul emerges. Karen McCluskey has returned from the supermarket. She spots Paul Young, who waves at her eerily, she drops her shopping bags in shock. He smiles deviously. Susan When Paul returns to Wisteria Lane, Mrs McCluskey is shocked to see him and informs Susan (who has recently moved into an apartment) along with the other housewives. When the housewives discover the news, Susan insists that she had no idea Paul would be the one renting her house. As the housewives start to discuss him, Paul comes out and offers to tell them how he has been released. Inside, he complains that none of them came to his trial or visited him in prison. When Susan asks why he wanted to return to Wisteria Lane, he replies: "Why do you think? I've missed my friends." Lynette Lynette, the children and Tom are complaining that she has not been keeping up with the housework. However, Lynette points out that she is too busy looking after the baby. When the phone rings, Lynette is excited to hear that it's her old college friend Renee, but is soon shocked when she discovers she is coming to visit Wisteria Lane and urges the family to start cleaning the house. When Renee arrives, she begins exchanging friendly insults with Lynette. It soon becomes clear that Renee is married to a baseball player and is used to the high life. However, she admits that she hasn't booked a hotel yet and Lynette eventually agrees that she can stay with them. Later, Lynette introduces Renee to the other housewives. The pair begin to exchange banter again but the conversation turns sour when Renee hints that Lynette has not lived up to her college award of 'Most Likely To Succeed'. Eventually, Renee says that the Lynette she knew was adventurous and backpacked through Croatia, jumped on stage and had a threesome with two guys from the rugby team. Tom looks on from the door. Later, in her bedroom, Lynette asks why Renee decided to visit just to criticise her life. Tom is distracted by the threesome story and keeps asking about it, but eventually points out that he thought Lynette liked her banter with Renee. Lynette says that she's not allowed to be disappointed in her life and leaves to confront Renee. She presents her with a Yellow Pages and advises her to look up a hotel and a taxi. Renee insists that she doesn't think Lynette's life is pathetic and admits that her husband is leaving her. She reveals that she found out he was cheating on her and he chose his mistress. Lynette asks why she didn't tell her earlier but Renee replies: "My life's about to fall apart. I hadn't even admitted it to myself yet." Lynette promises that she can stay for as long as she likes. Bree Bree tells Gabrielle about Andrew running over Carlos' mother. Later, Orson picks up his belongings from Bree's house with the help of his physical therapist. He asks if she will be okay and suggests that she find a new project to focus on, but Bree admits that she needs to sit quietly and think about what to do with her life. "Whatever you do, I know it will be spectacular," Orson says. After he leaves, Bree is looking at some family photos when she notices some peeling wallpaper. She tries to stick it back up but it falls down again, and eventually she starts tearing it all off the wall. Later, Orson rings to find out how she is and she replies: "I took your advice. I found myself a project." Later, Bree hires a new decorator, Keith. He suggests making over the room with something "bold", and when Bree suggests a "nice deep beige", he admits that he was thinking of a scarlet red. "Don't take this the wrong way but I'm going to be serving dinner, not sailors," Bree replies. She excuses herself as Orson is outside. He hands over the division of assets and Bree invites him to Andrew's dinner party. Orson thanks her, but soon his physical therapist points out that they have plans. Orson tells her to wait in the van and admits to Bree that they have started seeing each other. He promises that they didn't begin their relationship while he was still married. "We can't let opportunities for happiness pass us by," he says. Back inside, Keith suggests Bree decorate the dining room in a moonstruck yellow. "With your red hair you'd look so hot in this room," he says. "You know, whatever you want. You have other options." Bree replies: "Maybe I do." Gabrielle At Gabrielle's, Bree admits that Andrew ran over Carlos's mother. "This is bad," Gaby responds. "This is really bad. I need to go throw up a little." She explains that Bree shouldn't have told her because now she'll have to tell Carlos. She says: "He is going to kill Andrew and he's going to have to go to prison so thanks for sending my husband to prison, Bree, nice work!" Bree says that Orson was disgusted when he found out and thinks she's a horrible person, but Gabrielle remarks that they're all horrible people. Bree admits that Orson is divorcing her and Gabrielle replies: "Normally I'd give you a hug, but right now I sort of don't give a crap!" In the hospital, an employee is being told that he has to inform the family of the swapped baby. He isn't happy about the news, but his boss explains that he lives in the neighbourhood and is perfect for the job. The employee, Jack, later visits Wisteria Lane and heads towards the housewives, but is interrupted by Carlos and they go inside. It soon becomes clear that Carlos and Gaby's daughter Juanita was the swapped baby. Carlos is furious and asks if the other family are aware of the news. When Jack says that the hospital hasn't tracked them down, Carlos forbids him from telling Gaby anything. Jack insists that he has a legal obligation, but Carlos says he will deliver the bad news himself. "This is going to destroy her," he sighs. Later, Carlos is looking at some family photos when Juanita arrives. He points out her grandmother and Juanita admits that she wishes she could have met her. "Every day she was the light of my life," Carlos admits. "That's why I named you after her - I could not imagine a world without Juanita Solis in it." Gaby watches them from the door. Later, when Gaby is tucking Juanita in to bed, she tells her that she is not allowed to ride her bike to the mall. When Juanita tells her she is mean, she responds: "Sometimes I have to be mean. It's my job to protect you. What if you got hit by a bus? I can't take that chance. You're my whole world. If something happened to you, it would ruin my life." Carlos watches on from the door. Carlos is speaking to Jack about the baby swap. He says he will either sue the hospital for $10m or $20m, or the hospital can shred all the documents and make sure Gaby never finds out. He explains that if Gaby knew the truth, it would kill her. Meanwhile, Gaby informs Bree that she's not going to tell Carlos about Andrew. Bree suggests that he deserves to know but Gaby explains that he is so happy right now, their marriage is the best it's ever been and he loves his job. "Except for this one easily ignorable blip our life is perfect," she says. "I won't let anything change that." Epilogue Paul is collecting his mail, when he is confronted by Lee who is angry for revealing his past in the neighborhood. Paul tells Lee he is about to give him more business. Lee is intrigued. Paul tells him that his old house is back on the market and he wants to buy it back. Lee tells him that since he is already renting Susan's house buying another property across the street doesn't seem like a very good plan. Paul replies "Oh believe me, I've had 10 years to work on this plan - it's a good one." A newspaper boy rides past Paul and Lee: a paper lands on Bree's garden and she reads the front page before smiling flirtatiously at Keith; Susan moves a paper out of the way and begins dusting while on webcam; Gabrielle hands Carlos his morning paper and reluctantly sips her tea - not telling him her and Bree's secret. Meanwhile, in prison, Felicia sticks up a newspaper clipping of Paul Young. Her roommate asks her if that's the guy Felicia has been talking about and adds "it's a shame they let him out." Felicia replies "As it turns out, it's all for the best, Paul can now receive the punishment he's entitled to." Her roommate is confused and asks what she means, to which Felicia replies "Just between us girls? Paul Young will be dead within six months." Felicia's cell mate again asks how that's possible, seeing as Felicia will be behind bars for at least 2 years. "True, but Paul Young doesn't have friends on that street...I do!" Felicia cackles. Production "Remember Paul?" was written by series creator and executive producer Marc Cherry. It marked the debut of Vanessa Williams as Renee Perry, an old college rival of Lynette Scavo. Williams was offered the job after her recent starring role as her Emmy award nominated character Wilhelmina Slater ended on ABC's ''Ugly Betty. It was announced on May 18th, 2010 that she would be joining the show, this news came after Cherry had announced he was looking for a new troublemaker to fill the void left by the demise of Nicollette Sheridan's Edie Britt. The episode will also mark the return of the show's first ever bad guy Paul Young. Reception According to Nielsen ratings, "Remember Paul?" was watched by 13.056 million viewers and held a 8.1 rating/12 share on its original American broadcast on September 26, 2010. Among viewers between 18 and 49 years of age, the episode drew a 4.3 rating, making it the twelfth most-watched show for the week in that demographic. The premiere was outperformed by Sunday Night Football on NBC and Family Guy on Fox, which respectively drew a 7.3 and 4.5 rating in the 18 to 49 demographic in the Desperate Housewives time slot. The episode is the least-watched season premiere of Desperate Housewives to date, with an eleven percent decrease in viewership from the sixth season premiere one year earlier. ABC reported that the episode gained an additional 2.1 million viewers and 1.0 rating in the week following the original broadcast due to DVR recordings. "Remember Paul?" was outperformed by the following episode, "You Must Meet My Wife", which drew 13.234 million viewers and scored 8.2 rating/12 share in total viewers and a 4.4 rating in viewers between 18 and 49 years of age. The episode received mixed reviews. Tanner Stransky of Entertainment Weekly gave the premiere a positive review. He praised Williams' performance, stating that she brought back a "brand of bitchery" that had been missing from the series since Nicollette Sheridan's departure; additionally, he favorably compared the performance to Williams' portrayal of Wilhelmina Slater on Ugly Betty. He also complimented Harriet Sansom Harris' performance, naming her "the creepiest character... in the best possible way." Stransky called the Gabrielle and Carlos storyline "sweet," but criticized the ridiculousness of Susan's storyline. Neal Justin of the Star Tribune said, "the premiere is packed with the zippy zingers that made us fall in love with the dramedy in the first place," accrediting the series' improved quality over season six to the return of Mark Moses as Paul Young. He also commented that Vanessa Williams gave "a repeat performance" of her character on Ugly Betty. Damian Holbrook of TV Guide also drew a comparison between Williams' performances in the episode and on Desperate Housewives, stating the two characters "have the same stiletto-sharp tongue and prickly chemistry with everyone who enters her orbit." John Griffiths of Us Weekly gave the premiere a negative review, awarding it only two stars. He stated the show had turned into "a run-of-the-mill sitcom" and criticized the writers for not being able to develop material to match the "venerable cast capable of great things." He called the Paul storyline "corny" and the switched-baby storyline "as compelling as a manicure," and commented that both Williams and Brian Austin Greene deliver underwhelming performances Trivia *Brenda Strong (Mary Alice Young) is seen in this episode. It's her 14th on-screen appearance in the run of the series, and it is also the first season premiere to physically show her since the pilot. *As of this episode, Kyle MacLachlan (Orson Hodge), Dana Delany (Katherine Mayfair), Drea de Matteo (Angie Bolen), Maiara Walsh (Ana Solis), Andrea Bowen (Julie Mayer), Jeffrey Nordling (Nick Bolen) and Beau Mirchoff (Danny Bolen) have all left the regular cast, and so has Kendall Applegate (Penny Scavo), whose role is now being played by new regular Darcy Rose Byrnes. Kathryn Joosten (Karen McCluskey) is now billed as a "starring" castmember, and recurring guest stars Kevin Rahm (Lee McDermott) and Tuc Watkins (Bob Hunter) have been promoted to series regulars (however, the latter doesn't appear and is therefore not billed in this episode). In addition to that, Mark Moses (Paul Young) re-joins the main cast, after having starred in the first two seasons, and Vanessa Williams also joins the show's cast as new housewife Renee Perry. Bloopers and continuity errors *The baby in the picture of "the day Juanita was born" is in a crawling position and supporting itself by its arms, which would be impossible for a newborn. Gallery File:7x19.jpg Category:Episodes Category:Season Seven Category:Season premiere Category:Flashback episodes